West Wing: Chief of Staff
by DowagerInTraining
Summary: When President Andrea Wyatt's Chief of Staff collapses suddenly at the White House, it couldn't come at a worse time. Mid Terms are approaching, her allies are scattered across the world and there are few people she can turn to. Toby has a suggestion though... perhaps it's time Josh Lyman returned to active political duty. Sequel to "I Found My Man", 8 years later. Large cast.
1. Chapter 1

"And are we absolutely certain that it's the right course of action?"

A small group of people were gathered in the Oval Office in the White House, intently discussing the agenda for the morning briefing. Press Secretary, Linda Barnett, turned to Director of Communications Alison Hawkins to see what her reaction would be. Alison nodded, catching the eye of her deputy Geoff Westwick. He was in complete agreement as she had known he would be.

Carrie Dalgleish took in the glances of the people around her and turned to face The President.

"We're in agreement Madam President."

President Andie Wyatt was relieved. The initiative had taken a long time to pull together, needing bipartisan support in both Houses, Congress and Senate. Now it looked as though it would go ahead.

Carrie turned to her own deputy, Dan Hardacre, and nodded.

"Alright. Set up the calls."

Dan was wide eyed, looking like a rabbit caught in headlights. His too long blond fringe fell haphazardly into his too young face. For a moment, he looked a good decade younger than his twenty-seven years of age.

"Me?"

"No… the President of Pakistan." Carrie suppressed a roll of her eyes with great difficulty. "Yes, you, go on, go…"

Dan gathered up his papers, dropped half of them in the process, recollected them, and departed from the room sprinkling messy apologies as her went.

Carrie caught Andie's eye in a wry second of amusement.

"Alright," Andie turned to the room. "What's next?"

"Nothing…"

"We're done Madam President."

"Marvellous. Let's get started."

Linda, Alison and Geoff left the room in a more orderly fashion than Dan.

Carried stayed for a few minutes, turning to face Andie as she sat at the imposing desk to one side of the room. Andie sighed and looked up to Carrie.

"Are you sure we haven't just promoted a post turtle?"

Carrie burst into laughter. "A what?"

"A post turtle. Oh, it was on one of those twitter memes, Molly showed it to me. There's a photograph of a turtle is balanced on a fence post and underneath was a spiel saying that every administration has a post turtle. You have no idea how he got to that position, he must have had help to get there, he's elevated above his ability to function and he had no idea how to get out of the position."

Carrie sighed, trying to suppress her laughter. "He's young. He'll learn. It's not like we're at war or anything, and in the worst case scenario, I'll have Rachel back in a few weeks time once she's done given birth."

"If she comes back…"

"When she comes back. I'm not letting her quit. She's got too good a brain to waste on years of unrelenting nursery rhymes. I'd rather put a crib in her office and get sound proofing than do without… ooof..."

Andie looked up at her chief of staff, one of her closest confidants. Carrie was wincing, a hand suddenly clutching her side.

"Are you feeling alright?"

"Just a stitch… I think… I've been getting them recently. Probably need to get a bit more exercise."

"Like you don't get enough walking up and down the halls of this place for fourteen hours a day."

Carrie didn't look good actually. Pale, with dark shadows under her eyes, and a facial expression which belied a great deal of hidden discomfort.

"You sure you're alright? Don't need to send out for any antacid or anything…"

"I'll be fine, Madam President. Nothing a sit down and a glass of water won't fix."

"Off you go then…"

"Thank you Madam President."

As Carrie left to go into her office through one door there was a knock at the other. Andie's chief secretary, Rose, opened it and announced "Your ten o'clock is waiting, Madam President…"

"Right, yes, Secretary McGarry, send her in…"

Mallory McGarry came in, looking slick and professional in her new suit. Three months into her new role as Secretary of Education, she was growing in confidence and stature in a way that would have made her father proud.

"Mallory…"

"Madam President…"

"Please, come in. Have a seat. How are the negotiations going, is everything up to…"

Behind the Chief of Staff's Office Door, there was a rumbling sound, followed by a thud and a sound of smashed glass.

Andie rushed over to the door and yanked it open, to see her chief of staff, Carrie, on her knees on the floor, sweat pouring from her face, which was lily white beneath her damp dark hair.

"Carrie… Carrie…! ROSE!"

"I can't breathe… I can't … I can't… " Carrie passed out onto the floor as Andie shrieked at the top of her lungs for someone, anyone, to help.

…

**2 hours later**

In a white building over at Columbia University, a lecture was in full swing, and students were busy taking notes, scribbling into notebooks and tapping furiously into new mac books and laptops. But the walls of the old hall occasionally rang with laughter and reverberated with lively and spirited debate.

The lecturer was popular, established and his classes were often oversubscribed. Known for his tetchy temper if people didn't keep up with the reading, most of his cohort did their best to stay one step ahead. To date, nobody had succeeded in this attempt.

Suddenly, a cell phone ring tone pierced the lighthearted atmosphere of the politics lecture.

Toby Ziegler's face snapped shut into a frown.

"Whoever's that is, please turn it off. You know my expectations about cell phones in lecture halls."

The students turned to face each other, checking their phones in pockets and bags, as the ring tone became louder and louder.

"Quickly please…"

The noise terminated abruptly.

"Thank you. Now, as I was saying…"

"Professor Ziegler…"

Toby turned to see his assistant Mary hold his own mobile phone, a look of panic on her face.

"Yes?"

"Professor, it was your phone, you need to take the call."

"I'm in the middle of…"

Mary hurried closer and spoke in a harried, frantic whisper. "It's the White House… they're saying it's a call from the President…"

Toby's face changed again, becoming all at once still. These calls came rarely during his working day, and never in less than a dire emergency. He turned to the students watching him.

"I need to take this call. Apologies. Class dismissed."

With that, Toby took the phone and abruptly marched out of the side door. Mary was left to close his laptop and gather up his briefcase before scurrying after him, through an increasing sea of confused and concerned commentary, as the students packed up their own belongings and speculated wildly about what could have pulled the most work conscious Professor away from teaching one of his favoured classes.

…

Outside in the corridor, Toby lifted the phone and released the hold function.

"This is Professor Toby Ziegler."

"Professor, please hold for the President."

A few clicks and beeps and Andie's voice came onto the line.

"Madam President?"

"Oh Toby…"

"Are the kids…"

"The kids are fine. It's not the kids."

"Oh thank God."

"Toby … it's Carrie."

"Carrie… your chief of staff?"

"She's had a heart attack."

Toby went through a doorway into a quiet stairwell and crashed down onto the bottom steps.

"No way…"

He knew Carrie. Had gotten to know her well since Andie's campaign had started out around three years ago. She'd been an excellent campaign manager, a seasoned operative with the DCCC. Only in her early forties, she'd been a wonderful chief of staff to Andie during the first two years of her presidency.

"Toby, it was awful, she collapsed in her office this morning, right after staff briefing."

"Where are you now?"

"At the residence."

"What do you need?"

"I need you."

"I'm on my way. I'll get the first flight out."

"Eric will be at the airport to meet you."

Abruptly, Toby hung up and began walking swiftly over to his office. On his way, he called Mary.

"Mary, I'm going to be gone for the rest of the day. Could you please cancel the rest of my classes and post notices for the afternoon lecture.

…

At Dulles Airport, Eric Banshaw waited at the Arrivals gate with the usual sign saying 'Prof Ziegler'. In his dark suit and coat, with close cropped hair and youthful face, he looked like any of the other dark suited limousine and private car drivers that littered the concourse, but Eric was no driver.

Toby came through the gate, briefcase in one hand, overcoat slung over his other arm.

"Eric."

"Professor."

Eric lifted the little recording device in his hand to his lips and softly stated the time and location, noting that he had collected Mr Ziegler from the flight in from New York.

"Boarding Pass?"

"Here you go." Toby handed over the stub, which Eric photographed using a camera phone.

"Thanks. Lets go."

The two men walked over to the exit where a private car with a driver waited for both of them. This habit had become ingrained over the last two years or so, and while it grated upon Toby's nerves, he understood and accepted the need for it.

"Still haven't passed this job off to any other junior White House Counsellor I see, Eric?"

"Nobody else would put up with you, Professor Ziegler."

"Are we going in the front door?"

"Back door. President's request."

Toby breathed a sigh of relief. Less press, less check points and less books to sign in and out of. As the car drew up at the rear gate, and then passed through to the part at the rear of the White House, Eric murmured the time and location once more into the little recording device, before opening the door and ushering Toby inside.

It was an interesting pantomime, but one that had long since become routine to Toby. Irritating perhaps, but routine nonetheless.

With Toby having been charged with treason and removed from the White House after leaking classified information, there had been a number of legal headaches to overcome when Andie took office at the White House. Huck and Molly were just fourteen years old when Andie took office, and would be living with Andie in the White House residence during her time in office, at least until they went to college. Toby was their father and would need access to his children and to confer with Andie, as co-parent, from time to time. To have Andie, and the children, meeting him on neutral ground, motorcade and all, would be impossible in terms of privacy. He had to come to the residence.

Obviously, Toby could not be allowed access to any restricted areas and was barred from ever being issued with a security clearance at any sort of government level. Even though he had been pardoned by Bartlett, his presence in any restricted area would have been political suicide, not to mention the tipping point of a potential constitutional crisis. How could he pass through one of the most secure building in the world without hearing or seeing anything at all, in a way which would satisfy everyone as to his deafness and blindness?

Over chinese food and beers, during the transition period, Andie and Toby had discussed with various friends and colleagues how they could achieve this while still keeping the public happy and the lawyers comfortable. Eventually, Toby grumbled that he should just be given a watchdog to report on his every movement and, once the gales of laughter had subsided, people realised that it wasn't such a bad idea.

Eric Banshaw, ten years out of law school at Georgetown, proud Republican party member and the most junior lawyer in the White House Counsel's office, had been given a new role as Toby's official escort whenever he was on the premises at the White House. If Toby was travelling in to see Andie or the kids, Eric would collect him, escort him, sign him in, hustle him through the building so that he could not speak to anyone there in an official capacity and deposit him at the door of the residence. All through this, Eric kept a tick tock on his digital recorder, which was then transcribed and written up by a clerk on the Counsel's office. An accurate to the nearest second record of when and where Toby was on his journey into and out of the White House.

Once into the residence, Toby didn't need an escort, and Andie refused adamantly to discuss policy, work or anything approaching national security. No official documents came into the residence during her tenure there, and no meetings were ever held there. This way, Toby never ran the risk of accidentally reading or hearing something he wasn't supposed to have access too. The same went for the children.

It wasn't a new precedent. Bartlett had insisted upon the same distinction in his home and personal life, especially when Zoe was still living with him before going to college. Matt Santos had kept up the same rule, partly to allow for his often lightweight and unreliable brother to occasionally visit his niece and nephew. And now, it allowed for Toby to visit his children at the White House official residence.

At least, that was the official story behind his visits.

Toby and Andie's relationship, resumed during the midterms where she had lost her seat in Congress, had continued, but not been reaffirmed in any legally recognised sense. In the cold light of day, Andie's wildly romantic proposal and declaration that she wanted Toby in her life if she ran for office, had to be examined by political minds without a vested interest in the emotional side of things.

The short answer, from every focus group and legal meeting and quiet piece of advice from political operatives, was that Andie would lose if she and Toby remarried.

Toby, while disappointed, had been realistic, and restated his offer to Andie that he would wait for her for however long it took for her to reach the pinnacle of her political career. Until then … well, they still had each other, if a little more distantly and less frequently. They would just have to be a little more discreet about it and re-emphasis his role as father to Molly and Huck when anyone questioned his presence in the background.

At the back door to the residence, a secret service agent stood guard, not much smaller than the door he was guarding.

"Good afternoon Wyatt."

"Good afternoon Mr Banshaw."

Eric turned to Toby. "I'll leave you here now. Ring when you're ready to leave."

"Good night Eric."

As Toby passed through the door, he heard Wyatt speak softly into his personal microphone.

"Papa Goose is entering the Residence."

Toby sighed. He supposed there were worse code names.

Andie was in the kitchen, sitting at the table, a mug of coffee in her hands.

Toby deposited his briefcase and coat and came over to take her in his arms. A long silent hug refreshed and sustained both of them.

"Coffee?"

"I can get it," Toby motioned for her to sit down. "How's everything, generally?"

"Carrie's in surgery."

"What happened?"

"A pulmonary embolism. A clot."

"Dear God…"

"She's having a bypass as we speak."

"Prognosis?"

"Serious, but hopeful."

Toby had located a mug, spooned in the sugar and topped up his coffee from the percolator. He came to sit with Andie.

"The kids?"

"At school. I'll tell them later."

"Won't they see it on their cell phones?"

"Sidwell doesn't allow students to use cell phones during class time."

"Well that's something."

Toby sat at the table. Andie was leafing through scribbled notes on several pieces of paper.

"What can I do?"

"You can help me figure out what to do about a new chief of staff."

"Can the Deputy act up?"

"In a word, no."

"Oh dear."

Andie sighed and put her head in her hands.

"The deputy, Rachel, is about to give birth. Any minute now. So of course she's on parental leave, and has the right to take…"

"Oh…"

"Yeah…"

Andie had campaigned hard on the promise of parental leave for new families. Her own Deputy Chief of Staff had been one of the first White House Staffers to take advantage of paid parental leave with the promise of getting her job back once her baby was old enough to leave with a child care provider. Andie had popped Champagne the night that the deal had been signed and had been so proud of Rachel for taking up the opportunity as a flag bearer for the new provision. Now though… now Andie was being hoisted up her own flag pole.

"What about her replacement?"

"He's been in the job for two minutes, and it's been two minutes too long. Carrie thought she could train him but..."

"But that's not an option. Alright. Who's left out of your staff?"

"We're scattered thin, which is a major problem. I've got delegations all over the place. I'm going to have to look to bring someone in. My first thought was CJ, but that's not possible right now."

"No. Obviously."

Toby shook his head over the recent crop of misfortunes that had befallen his old sparring partner.

"What about Sam?"

"In Russia."

"Has he gone to take care of…"

"Yes."

"Good. But not good for this."

"He should be landing today, I'll speak to him in a few hours."

Sam had been made Secretary of State earlier in the year when the previous holder of the position, Arnold Vinick, finally retired due to ill health. Early on his his role working for President Bartlett, Sam had accidentally ended up in the middle of a diplomatic communication from President Pyotr Chigorin, then newly elected president of Russia. The Russian President had taken a liking to Sam and often asked after him in his dealings with President Bartlett and had been delighted to see him return to public life after Matt Santos was elected to the White House. In the aftermath of the US involvement in Khazakstan, as Deputy Chief of Staff to Matt Santos, Sam had opened a dialogue of negotiation with the President, managing to develop the fragile trust between the two countries, and as Secretary of State this was now high on his agenda to continue. He had just this week been dispatched to Moscow to discuss the future of Khazakstan with President Chigorin. The visit had taken upwards of six months to set up and bringing Sam home again at this juncture was simply not possible.

"I won't deny Toby, I thought long and hard about that one. There are few people I'd rather have next door than Sam right now, but I need him where he is. In all the years they were in communication, this is the first time he and Pyotr have met in person, and it's been a long time coming."

"Alright … who else…"

"I need every bottom on every seat in Congress and the Senate. The margin is too narrow. I can't risk an empty seat."

"And they're all so young…"

"It says a lot when Charlie and Billy are now looking like old hands… and Charlie's got to go back to the polls in a few months time."

In the wake of the midterms which had elected Charlie and Billy to Congress and Senate, the New Blues movement had grown in strength, with more and more people aged under 30 being elected to Congress, and more and more people under 35 making strong runs for Senate. Across the aisle, the Republican youth movement, shepherded by Ainsley Hayes, had swept a new broom through the GOP. The Fresh Reds had their own hashtag and agenda and were running their own impressive show right now.

But that meant the margins had grown tighter and tighter and control of the House of Representatives was on a razor thin edge. This was not the time to pull their allies out.

Tony started crossing names off the list.

"No… No… No, too many enemies… No… Not this one…"

"Amy Gardiner? I had her in mind…"

"She got married. Moved away..."

"That doesn't mean she can't…"

"... to Australia."

"Oh. That would put an end to that idea, then."

"What about Will Bailey?"

Andie put her coffee down in disbelief.

"You… are suggesting Will Bailey? Are you feeling alright?"

"I'm feeling desperate."

"He's heading up the re-election campaign at the DCCC."

"Not re-contesting his seat in Oregan?"

"You're out of date. He missed Washington too much. Decided to chuck in the seat and come home. Harris is in the seat now."

Toby shook his head, his memory catching up.

"I knew that, I'd just forgotten. At least it's still Blue. Hang on a second…"

Toby grabbed the sheets and started leafing through.

"What…? Toby, what?"

"There's a name missing."

"Which one?"

"Lyman."

"Donna? She's heading up the taskforce on Equal Pay over at Treasury. She says she still wants her money back."

"No, not Moss-Lyman. Lyman. Where's Josh's name?"

Andie and Toby raised their heads and looked at each other, eye to eye.

"Do you think he would?"

"Do you think he wouldn't?"

"I don't know…"

"I'll be honest, neither do I…"

"Well … I supposed we'd better find out."


	2. Chapter 2

On a quiet suburban street in Bethesda, a school bus drew up at a stop two blocks down from the Moss-Lyman residence. Leo Lyman, eight years old, clambered down off the bus and waved to his friends, hopped aboard his skateboard and turned his cap backwards. Backpack slung over one shoulder, he began scooting his way home.

Knowing that the first question he would get as he came through the door would be 'How was school today?', and that unlike most parents his dad refused to be put off with a 'fine I guess', he began marshalling his thoughts. Today had actually been pretty good. The canteen had hotdogs for lunch, there had been jello for pudding, and he got 8 out of 10 in the dreaded math test on fractions. His story for English class was coming along well, although Mrs Henderson was not convinced by the flying saucer that had just landed on the beach in his latest chapter. Bobby Rigson had asked him to go skating next weekend for his birthday, which looked all kinds of fun. Hopefully Dad would say he could go.

The afternoon had been kinda weird though. The teachers had spent a lot of time checking the news on their laptops and mumbling to each other. Through one of two glimpses, Leo had seen footage of an ambulance arriving at The White House. This had worried him a little. Everyone knew who President Wyatt was, but to Leo she was also Aunt Andie. He'd asked the teacher what was happening during afternoon recess, and had been reassured that President Wyatt was fine. Hopefully Dad would know more.

Leo let himself in through the back door, hanging his cap on a peg, dumping his skateboard in the corner and toeing off his sneakers. Mom would be cross at him for not untying the laces, but they were comfortably broken in and could withstand such short cuts now.

"Dad….!" he called.

There was no answer at first. Leo wasn't concerned. Dad was probably in the basement. Or in the attic. Or maybe in the garage.

"Dad…?"

"Leo…?" The call back was muffled, from up at the top of the house.

"Dad I'm home!"

"I'll be right down, son…"

Leo shrugged and went over to the refrigerator to get some juice. The phone rang. Leo picked up the white phone hanging beside the refrigerator, but there was no answer. The ringing continued though. Leo looked over to the corner of the kitchen, where another phone, a black plastic corded one, was ringing on the countertop. Ever since he was old enough to answer the phone, his Mom had told him what to do if this phone ever rang.

"Dad! Phone! Black Phone!"

As the thumps and bumps upstairs intensified in speed, Leo knew his Dad was on the way. He picked up the phone.

"Moss-Lyman house, Leo Lyman speaking…"

"Good afternoon Leo, is your father Josh Lyman there?"

"He's on his way, who is calling?"

"This is Mrs Baker, calling on behalf of the President."

"He'll be right here…" Leo covered the mouthpiece and yelled louder. "DAD!"

Turning back to the phone, he marshalled his courage.

"Is the President OK? We saw the news at school today with the ambulances."

"President Wyatt is just fine Leo, she's holding to speak to your father…"

Footsteps rattled down the stairs at breakneck speed…

"He's here, hold on…"

Leo turned to hold out the phone to his father, who was covered in dust and cobwebs and looking bemused and concerned all in one go, as he took it and started speaking, trying to get his breath back.

"This is Josh Lyman…"

Leo heard the female voice mumbling on the other end of the line and knew that his father was being connected with the President.

"Madam President… yes, I'm sorry to keep you waiting… is everything…? No I haven't been near a television set all day… Alright…"

Josh reached for a chair and sat down, reaching over to rumple Leo's hair. Leo watched the shock spread across his father's face and realised that he hadn't seen the news from the White House.

"Oh God …. Oh God is she… but she's going to be fine…? Alright, I see… Madam President, forgive me, but why are you calling me about this…"

As Leo replaced the juice in the fridge and turned to see his Dad, he watched his father's open and goofy face close down, and for the first time in his young life he wasn't able to read his father's emotions.

"Madam President, could you just wait a second while I clear the room? Thank you…"

Josh covered the mouthpiece and spoke to his son.

"Leo, could you go to your room please."

"Is everything…?"

"Everything's fine son. I'll come up and see you soon, OK, but I need to concentrate on this call right now."

Josh's smile didn't quite reach his eyes.

"OK Dad…"

Leo did as he was told.

* * *

Upstairs in his room, Leo was busy constructing a new set of lego into a medieval castle. The instructions were tricky to follow, but he was getting the hang of it. Another couple of weeks and it would be finished. Every so often, he looked up and over at the door to his room, left ajar. His Dad was still on the phone.

Disconsolately he leafed through the instructions and began hunting out the pieces for the next section of the turret.

This was serious. He'd never been asked to leave the room while his Dad was taking a call before. He couldn't remember that phone even ringing before. Mom had told him not to touch it or play with it, that it was only used for Dad to talk to Aunt Andie, who had been President Wyatt since he was six years old. He remembered her getting her new name, there had been a big party, with lots of blue and white balloons, and a huge white cake with red and blue roses on it. All the grown ups drank something fizzy from long thin glasses. Except for his Mom, because she was looking after Joanne, who was only a tiny baby.

He understood a bit better now he was older what it meant for Aunt Andie to be President. It was a big important job, she was running the whole country, and lived in the White House. They didn't see much of her any more, but he saw her on TV a lot, wearing nice suits and talking to big crowds of people.

Downstairs, there was a ping sound of a phone being replaced. He heard the sound of cupboards being opened and closed, the kitchen door opened, and footsteps coming upstairs. He turned to see his Dad coming in, carrying a tray, with two glasses of milk and a plate of cookies.

"Hey son…"

"Hey Dad."

"I'm really sorry about sending you away like that. But I had to talk to the President."

"Is she alright?"

"She's fine, that's the truth. Did you know something happened at the White House today?"

Leo nodded. "We saw on the teacher's computer screen. There were ambulances at the White House."

Josh cleared his throat.

"That's right… um … you remember a lady called Carrie, who works for your aunt? Sometimes we see her on TV, standing behind her when she gives speeches?"

Leo shrugged. Most of the people in suits looked the same to him.

"Well, she's like your Aunt's best friend. Like you and Bobby are friends, right? And they work together, like you and Bobby work together at school sometimes."

"Yeah…" Leo reached for a cookie.

"And, well, Carrie wasn't feeling well today. In fact, she was really sick. She had something called a heart attack."

"That sounds bad…"

"It's pretty bad. Her heart stopped working properly and they had to take her to the hospital to get it fixed. She's pretty sick right now, and the news is going to be on TV for a while."

"Is she going to be OK?"

"We hope so son, but she's going to be in the hospital for a while. And I wanted you to know what's happening, because people on TV are going to talk about it, and they're going to make it sound even worse than it is, because that's what some people on TV do."

"Was this what Aunt Andie, I mean… President Wyatt wanted to talk to you about?"

"Sort of."

Josh sat on the floor and reached for a cookie too. Leo came to join him, grabbing a bean bag.

"The President asked if I wanted to go and work for her for a while, to help out, until her friend is back at work and feeling better."

"Are you going to do it?"

"No, I don't think so."

"Why not? I think it would be pretty cool to work at the White House."

"Well… I used to work there. A long time ago, before you were born."

"Seriously!"

"Seriously."

This was epic news. Leo's cookie lay half finished in his hand as he gaped at his father.

"What did you do?"

"I worked with President Bartlett, and then later with President Santos, to help them change laws and make decisions and make this country into a good place for you to grow up in."

"Was it fun?"

"Sometimes it was fun, but it was hard work too."

"Working at the White House is hard?"

Josh ate his cookie and sat quietly for a few moments. Leo recognised that look, his Dad was searching for the right words to explain something complicated to him. His dad did this from time to time. He wasn't like other Dads, like Bobby's Dad, who would tell Bobby to 'ask again when he was older' if Bobby asked questions he didn't like. Leo's Dad always gave him answers, and most of the time, Leo could understand them.

"You know how when you did that science project with Bobby, you were really excited when you got started on it…?"

"Yeah…"

"Well, being President and working with the President is a bit like that. It's all exciting at first, you get all these cool ideas about stuff you want to do, and you start out and it's fun and new and you enjoy it. But then it starts to get messy and things don't work like you thought they would. Remember, it was the same for you with that project? It took ages, and things went wrong, and you almost blew up Bobby's kitchen with the acid and baking soda trials…"

Leo nodded gravely. That had been a black day. An allowance guzzling day.

"And then you wanted to go to the skatepark competition, but your deadline was coming and you had to get it finished, even when you didn't want to…?"

"Yeah…"

"And you and Bobby didn't speak for a while afterwards when it was finished and handed in."

Leo nodded. He remembered the argument. He was still convinced they would have taken first prize if Bobby hadn't dropped that piece of the project on the way into the school hall, but they had decided several days later that being friends was more important than first place at the science fair. All parents had breathed long sighs of relief, and the invitation to go skating next weekend was a significant olive branch.

"We're talking again now though. He wants me to go skating with him."

"That… that's great son. We'll talk about that when Mom gets home."

"But what does this have to do with the White House?"

"Well, here's the thing. I worked there with my best friends, and it was fun. Especially at the beginning, it was exciting and cool, and we had lots of ideas about how to make the country better. But not all of our ideas work, and other people weren't helpful and I had to give up a lot of other stuff to work there. I was there really early in the morning, and stayed until very late at night. I didn't get a lot of sleep, and I was hungry a lot because there was no time to eat. I worked weekends…"

"Weekends!"

"Yup, Saturdays and Sundays."

"Would you have to do that again?"

"If I was going to work for the President in the job that she wanted me to do… yes…"

Leo's lip wobbled dangerously. His little league games were on Saturday morning. His Dad was a regular supporter.

"But I'm not going to do it. Because, y'see, all this other stuff is important to me too. I want to be able to come to your games, and to parent-teacher night, and drop JoJo off at daycare. And I don't want to argue with my friends, and give up all this time when I could be spending it with you."

"So, you said no?"

"Yeah I said no."

"What did the President say?"

"Well, she was pretty upset…"

Something about the way that Josh's mouth twitched tipped Leo off to the idea that his Dad was not in good books. He had that same look he had when Mom got mad and occasionally yelled at him. Which wasn't often, but it was scary when it did happen.

"Was she mad at you?"

"Yeah, she's.. uh, she's pretty mad at me right now."

"Oh."

"Yeah, it's not good when your friends are mad at you. But you know what?"

"What?"

"You're more important to me than the President. You, and JoJo, and your Mom…"

"Awww Dad…" this was verging close to mushy for Leo's taste.

"So, I'm not going to do it. And that's that for now. So…" he handed a glass of milk across to Leo. "So let's you and me and a drink and forget about it. How was school today?"

The afternoon was back on track. Leo gulped his milk, set his glass to one side, and dug into his bag to pull out his story to show his Dad, discussed the finer point of the fractions test, and started making his case to go skating with Bobby on Saturday.

Downstairs in the kitchen, the black phone lay blissfully quiet on the kitchen counter top, the cable connecting it to the wall now disconnected, hanging loose over the edge of the counter.

* * *

Andie was livid. The phone hung heavy in her hand as she stood in the Oval Office. She blessed her earlier decision to place the call in private instead of in front of the staff. It saved her a lot of embarrassment right now, and there was zero chance of such an awful story leaking to the press.

She, President Wyatt, had asked a much respected public servant to come back and serve his country and the White House during its hour of need, and the answer had been no. Not just 'no', but an emphatic, repeated, hung-up-and-disconnected-the-phone 'No'. The line was now ringing out, but there was no answer at the other end. This could have been a public relations disaster.

She put an internal call through to the residence. The secret service agent answered the phone and passed it to Toby at her request.

"Madam President?"

"The answer was no."

"... huh."

"Yeah. He hung up on me."

"Oh."

"And disconnected the phone."

"Ah."

"Is there any chance of an answer from you that's more than one syllable?"

Toby recognised the warning tones in Andie's voice. She was way beyond angry.

"You used to say I talked too much. I was trying to keep things brief and neutral."

"I don't need things brief and neutral. I need him to say yes. However many words that takes."

"You're absolutely certain?"

"Beyond a doubt. I didn't realise how much until he said no."

"Right."

"What do you need? To make this happen?"

"I need to go see him. I need a quiet window to leave, with no press, and everyone looking the other way."

"You think you can talk him into it in a face-to-face conversation?"

Toby chuckled briefly.

"Even I'm not that good. But I need to find out all the reasons why he's saying no. Even the ones he doesn't want to tell me. Especially the ones he doesn't want to tell me. Or you."

Andie drummed a pencil against her desk and made a few swift decisions.

"Alright. I need to speak to the Press. There's been no official announcement. We'll do a medical update from GW, reassure people that it's business as usual, remind people not to expect an announcement while Carrie's in surgery, or at least until we have a prognosis, and then I'll take some questions from people. That should give you a window."

"Excellent. I'll have to get Ward to take me out and get a cab. And I'll sort everything with Columbia, arrange to stay in town for a while."

"Will you be at the house?"

"Yeah."

"I'll call you later."

"Kiss the kids for me?"

"I will do."

* * *

Donna fitted her key into the latch, marvelling at the fact she had made it home in the daylight, which was not always a guarantee in the spring. She called out through the house as she took off her coat and laid her briefcase down on the hall table.

"Hey home…!"

"Hey mom!"

She smiled as she heard a scramble upstairs as Leo pulled himself away from whatever he was doing, followed by thump thump thump as his feet raced down the passageway and then down the staircase. She was met by a hurricane of eight year old boy.

"Hey you…" Donna paused for a few moments to gather up her son into an enormous hug and press a kiss onto his tousled hair. "How was your day?"

"It was pretty good… I did OK on the Fraction test, and Bobby wants me to go skateboarding with him at the weekend…"

"At the weekend, huh… on Saturday?"

"Sunday…"

"Alright, well, you come and tell me all about it… Is Dad cooking already?"

A smell of fried onions and garlic steamed from the kitchen, deliciously scenting the whole house.

"Hey you…!"

Josh appeared around the doorway to the kitchen as Donna and Leo headed down the passageway. With a striped apron on, a wooden spoon in one hand and their two year old daughter balanced on his hip, he looked the picture of a domesticated father. Donna made a mental note to get him a comedy chef's hat for his next birthday.

"Hi…! Hello you… and a big hello to you too…!" Donna leaned in for a quick kiss with her husband, then scooped JoJo out of Josh's arms for a restoring cuddle. "What's for dinner, chef? I'm starving!"

"We…" Josh waved the spoon back and forward between himself and JoJo with a wink… "Decided on Spaghetti, with bolognese and cheese. Someone was helping me pick out which mushrooms to chop. Should be about ten minutes."

"Oh, in that case, I won't bother changing then."

JoJo giggled into her mom's hair, her hand clenched around one button mushroom which she had captured during her attempts to help Dad with dinner. She sat on her Mom's lap as Donna settled into the window seat, toeing off her shoes. JoJo sucked her thumb noisily.

Leo was busy with chores, setting the table, laying cutlery, finding condiments and napkins.

"So how was your day?" Donna asked Josh, as he pulled a bottle of wine from the fridge and poured a glass for her. "Did you see the news?"

"No… but I got a Call about it."

Something about the way Josh put the emphasis on the word 'call' made Donna glance over to the black phone on the worktop. The wire was still hanging loose.

"So I see…"

"I'm not going back."

"Did I say a word about going back?"

"No, but you might later, so I'm answering now."

"What, and I'd have to give up all this? My coming-home-to-dinner-made privileges?"

Josh turned from his bubbling saucepans to see his wife grinning at him over the rim of her glass.

"You mock me," he wagged the wooden spoon at her with mock severity "And yet I am in charge of the portion sizes… Anyway, how was your day? What's new at Treasury?"

"I still want my money back."

"Don't we all."

"You used to find that funny."

"I used to be a single man with a disposable income. Now I'm a husband and dad of two, I absolutely want my money back, and yours too…"

The doorbell rang.

"Shall I get it Mom?"

"No, I'll get it," Donna set down her wine glass and popped JoJo down onto the floor, handing her a stuffed rabbit from the window seat to keep her occupied. "You finish setting the table, Dad's not going to be long dishing up now…"

The front door swung open to reveal Toby standing on the doorstep.

"Hi…"

"Hi….!"

"Donna who is it…?"

"It's, uh…"

Leo appeared behind Donna and gave a delighted whoop. "Uncle Toby!"

"Heya Leo…" Toby bent down to give Leo a hug, to give Donna time to rearrange her face into an expression of polite surprise.

Footsteps sounded behind her. Josh, still wearing his apron and brandishing a spoon, checked his watch and smiled at his old friend.

"I wondered if you'd make it here in time for dinner. Come on in… I made extra, just in case…"

"You knew I was coming?"

"Well … it's not like you could call, and I figured you'd be next. Come on in, it's Spaghetti Bolognese…"

* * *

By 8pm, both children were peacefully sleeping in the Moss-Lyman household, and the parents and their guest were able to retire to the den with a bottle of wine and finally get down to the business behind the visit.

"She asked you to come?"

"Asked isn't quite the right way of putting it." Toby held out his glass to accept a refill from Josh. "It's not like she could call you back."

"I half expected the secret service to arrive and pick me up."

"Don't think that it didn't cross her mind."

"What does she want from me Toby? I'm a fossil, I'm out, way past my use by date."

Donna reached for Josh's hand, not liking the self depricating tone his conversation was taking.

"Come now… spring chicken by political standards. You'd be a young man if you ran for President."

Josh snorted in derision.

"And besides… you're not even close to the age Leo was when he started with the Bartlett campaign."

"And that worked out so well in the long run."

Toby fell silent, regrouping his thoughts.

"Is there nobody else who can help with this?"

"Not right now. Cursed timing. CJ's out… Has she called either of you recently?"

Donna nodded sadly. "We spoke last night."

"How's she doing?"

"Not great. We're due to talk tomorrow."

"Give her my love? I keep missing her calls."

"I'll do that."

Josh interjected. "What about Sam?"

"Should be touching down in Russia round about now."

"Ah, shoot, I forgot that."

"Sam's needed where he is. He's in a whole different ball game now."

"What about this great new team of bright young things?"

"Too young, and in one case not bright enough…"

Toby filled them both in about the hapless Dan and post natal Rachel. Donna laughed.

"A post turtle … I like that. I'll have to use that in the next meeting. So what did..."

From upstairs came a wail, a high pitched and young female cry of 'Mommyyyyyy! Daddyyyyyyy!"

Josh and Donna exchanged glances, did a quick game of rock-paper-scissors, which Donna lost. Setting down her glass, she went out of the room and upstairs, calling "Coming…!".

Josh shrugged at Toby, who well understood the pantomime and frustrations of being a parent to young children.

"Josh…"

"Hmmm…"

"The President needs you."

"No Toby…" Josh pointed upstairs. "They need me. Two previous Presidents had their turn."

"It wouldn't be forever."

"Toby, working at that place, it's like something out of the Godfather. Just when you think you're out, they pull you back in."

"I wouldn't know."

"Yeah, well, politically you're still swimming with the fishes my friend."

"Josh…"

"Hmmm…"

"The country needs you."

"The country has done fine without me."

"Remember when Leo got sick? How we all ran around like headless chickens until The President picked CJ to right the ship?"

"Yeah."

"Imagine if that had happened in our first term… in that first two years… Do you think we would have survived?"

"Please tell me Andie's not hiding a health scandal."

"No, but even so…"

Josh said nothing. Drank his wine. Toby sensed he was getting nowhere.

"Ok. I promise to stop with the cheap persuasion tactics now. But for my own ability to sleep at night… please tell me why."

"I could give you a hundred reasons why, and you'd want a hundred and one."

"Humour me. And then I'll go."

"Alright… It's not what it would be. It's what it wouldn't be. I wouldn't be here. I wouldn't be here to get the kids to school. Support Donna. Do the whole parent-teacher-night thing. Chaperone the school trips. Make dinner for the family. Go to the little league games. I'd be on call. All day. All night. All hours and timezones."

Josh sat up and put down his glass, leaning over, arms rested on his knees.

"I remember early on, when Leo and his wife broke up… I remember being relieved. Yeah, that's right I was relieved. Because now we had Leo to ourselves. We didn't have to share him with his wife, he was on call, all day, all night. Dear God, when I think about that now…"

Josh's face looked haggard when he turned to face Toby, who for the first time saw the depths of shame and fear that lay behind that admission

"Leo always said that working at the White House was the most important thing he would ever do with his life, and I accepted that. Just… blindly. It wasn't until I fell in love, really fell in love, that I realised how sad that was, and what he'd given up to make all of that work. That haunted me, Toby, once I understood what the price was. The idea of losing this, losing Donna, and the kids, even for a little bit…"

"You're not going to lose anyone…"

"The only reason I made it the first time was because I had nothing else. No kids. No responsibilities. An apartment I could leave and not look back toward. No life outside of work. Anything I tried to do outside of work died a death. And the second time… I had Donna at work with me, we weren't parents, we were doing everything together as a team, and even then, I nearly didn't make it Toby."

He looked up to his friend.

"They forced me out, remember? They targeted me, and they goddamn won. And yes, I was able to lay some of those ghosts, with the work I did on Billy's campaign, and the stuff with the New Blues. But I don't want to go back to that. I don't want to do that, especially not alone."

"It's a different game now. We've got the house. And the senate. But if we don't right the ship… mid terms are coming."

"You said you wouldn't try to persuade me."

"I know. I'm sorry. Old habits. Go on."

"It's just… yes, if I could go back and right the wrongs done, of course that's tempting. But keeping what I found? I have to. That's non negotiable. This..." Josh gestured around the living room. "This is my peace. This is everything."

Toby glanced around the tasteful, well decorated room. The toys scattered across the floor, the photographs of the children on the mantlepiece. The pile of papers on the desk to one side were overlaid by crayon drawings. Three New York Mets baseball caps hung from a set of pegs in the corner. One older, larger, well worn. One mid sized, beginning to look a little grubby around the cap edge. One tiny, cute, toddler sized. There was no mistaking which belonged to the different members of the Lyman clan. The sight went straight to Toby's crusty old heart.

He looked back to Josh who was staring at him, smiling.

"You understand."

It was a statement. Not a question. Toby replied anyway.

"I know."

* * *

It was late when Toby went up to bed. The small clock downstairs chimed softly, 1 am. He groaned, unaccustomed to late nights, knowing that he would regret this in the morning. Settling into bed, his mobile rang. For two whole seconds he contemplated ignoring it, but then realised who it would be, calling at 1am.

"I'm here…"

"Did he say yes?"

Toby sighed.

"No."

"No?"

"Not yet…"

"I was waiting for you to call…"

"I'm sorry…" Toby gave up and switched the bedside light back on. "I had to do some thinking. Write some things down. And then make a couple of other calls. I thought you'd be asleep."

"You were doing this instead of persuading Josh?"

"I was doing this in order to persuade Josh. We're going to need some help on this one. How's Carrie?"

"Out of surgery."

"And?"

Andie sighed wordless exhaustion down the phone.

"Oh."

"Yeah. She's … she's stable, but that only means she isn't getting any worse."

"How're the kids?"

"Confused. Scared. They like her a lot. They spent almost more time with her than me when they were out on the road with us."

"She's part of the temporary normal."

"Yeah…"

"What?"

"It's one of the reasons I want Josh so much. They know him too. And I know him. And he's the next best thing to having you here all the time."

Toby smiled. Andie would never know how great a compliment that was.

"What time are you scheduled to be woken?"

"5am."

"You'd better get some sleep. Or at least pretend. Lie down. Dark room. Eyes closed."

"You'd better do the same."

"That's the plan."

"Call me tomorrow?"

"You call me. I won't get past the gate. But I'll pick up as soon as you have a minute."

"Alright… Toby…?"

"Yeah?"

"I love you."

"I love you too. Goodnight."

"Goodnight."


End file.
